The GMO Penis Connection

One of the main impediments to rational discussion of biotechnology is fear-mongering by anti-GMO zealots. The most outlandish claims (cancer! birth defects!) are couched in science and often peddled by activists like Jeffrey Smith, who is given the opportunity to air his baseless assertions to nationally syndicated TV audiences (on multiple occasions), courtesy of the popular but irresponsibly credulous Dr. Oz. As I've previously discussed in this Slatepiece, progressives who should know better also play an unfortunate role in the dissemination of GMO-related misinformation and urban myths. And then there are the scientists themselves. John Vandermeer is a distinguished professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Michigan. I don't know much about him beyond what I can glean from his website, but he has injected himself into the larger discussion over the widely publicized Mark Lynas speech on GMOs. Evidently, Vandermeer is quite rankled by what Lynas had to say and has published his own response at a California-based "think tank" called the Institute for Food and Development Policy. In his post, Vandermeer conspicuously plays up his qualifications as a scientist and educator. This guy is not anti-science, which is the term in vogue these days and used by Lynas and others to describe GMO opponents. Yet Vandermeer ticks off a laundry list of harms purportedly associated with GMOs and Monsanto, among which this jumps out (my emphasis):